Shaun Walker & Alec Luhn
London Guardian
May 26, 2014
Ukraine’s new president, Petro Poroshenko, has vowed to make his
first goal in office to stop the war in the east of his country.
The pro-European businessman won the presidential election with 54%
of the vote, according to early results on Sunday, clearing the 50%
threshold to win outright without a second round. The former prime
minister Yulia Tymoshenko was trailing far behind, with about 13%.
In an impromptu victory speech after an official exit poll showed his
convincing first-round win, Poroshenko praised the record turnout and
reiterated the pledge that his first official trip would be to
conflict-riven eastern Ukraine. He promised an amnesty to pro-Russian
rebels who turned in their weapons, but said those who had killed people
in the region were terrorists who deserved no quarter.
“Today we can definitely say all of Ukraine has voted, this is a
national vote,” Poroshenko said. “The first steps that we will take at
the beginning of our presidential term should be focused on stopping the
war, to put an end to this chaos and bring peace to a united Ukraine.”
Full article here
